The present invention relates to a closure device for placement in a doorway and, in particular, to a door gate which may be frictionally engaged with a doorway for preventing infants or small children from passing through the doorway.
In environments where small children or infants are present, it is generally desirable to have a closure device or gate which may be removably placed within an area way, such as a doorway, to prevent passage therethrough. For example, it may be desirable to restrict small children to a particular room without shutting the door to the room such that one can look into the room or the children can see an adult nearby.
Various means and techniques have been devised for the formation of barriers or closures across area ways wherein the gate may be removably mounted within the area way and which typically include means for adjusting the width of the gate to accommodate different distances between the side portions of the area way. For example, Gebhardt U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,263 discloses an infant security door gate assembly which includes upper and lower support bars incorporating coil springs positioned within telescoping tubes to form a compression friction fit within the doorway. In addition, the gate of Gebhardt is formed of a pair of complementary overlapping panels.
Gebhardt et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,117 and Knoedler et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,840 disclose security gate constructions which include overlapping substantially rigid panels which may be adjusted relative to each other to provide for a width adjustment.
While the above-described gates are satisfactory for preventing passage of an infant or small child through a doorway, there is a need for a security gate which is adapted to be mounted within an area way, such as a doorway, and which is additionally capable of being placed in a compact configuration for convenient storage and/or transportation of the security gate.